News

03 July 2016

THE HINDU

JNPT sets up container tracking facility

A new facility to enable online tracking of containers has been introduced at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) to help track movement of containers on a real-time basis, becoming the first Indian port to install such a technology.

The facility introduced by DMICDC Logistics Data Services Ltd, a joint venture of the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Trust and NEC Corporation of Japan, is expected to bring transparency in container movement and cut down logistic costs for trade and industry. A JNPT top official said that they can now issue tags to all containers as soon after they are off-loaded.

Integration

Called Logistics Data Services (LDS), this technology will integrate the information available with various agencies across the supply chain to provide detailed real-time information through a single window.

Containers can be tracked along the western corridor of India, starting from the port and covering their movement through rail or road, until they get to the Inland Container Depots and Container Freight Stations.

In case of delays LDS will provide alerts enabling users to choose the optimal supply chain.

“LDS would be a game-changing solution as nearly 20 per cent of the entire export-import trade of India is generally locked up in the inventory, adding to the cost of manufacturers,” said Alkesh Kumar Sharma, Director, DMICDC Logistics Data Services Ltd. “The visibility brought in by LDS would induce competition amongst the logistics stakeholders, which, in turn, will set benchmarks for the entire supply chain. LDS can help reduce the transportation lead-time (the time taken for goods to travel from their origin to their destination) by five days, resulting in estimated savings of $3.2 billion annually by 2017 by virtue of the lesser inventory carried by the industry.”

Anil Diggikar, Chairman, JNPT said: “JNPT sees lot of value in the LDS and believes that it will help in streamlining the port operations and bring in much required efficiencies in the Indian logistics supply chain.”